A monthly article series about the elements of short fiction: ideas for rocket-boosting your writing craft, reading recommendations, and other writing-related ramblings. Click to read Prattlefog & Gra...

what the devil is a sentence tree baba asks so i show her the diagram the words the branches give me a sentence i’ll show you and she says today’s the fortieth are you coming and i write it out noun v...

I call in to work with a case of limerence, it’s debilitating, you can look it up, and the boss tells me that isn’t a good excuse; he obviously didn’t look it up, so I tell him I’m murdering someone, ...

The SmokeLong Grand Micro Contest (The Mikey) is now an annual competition celebrating and compensating the best micro fiction and nonfiction online. The grand prize winner of The Mikey is automatical...

I haven’t made love in ages, which isn’t true. But I often say, well, many things. I often say that the truth isn’t in the truth but in what feels like the truth. I haven’t made love in ages, so I fli...

I emerge from us as a lark from depression-nest. You punched a hole in the wall near my head, breath full and chewy as wine, dangerous words through drunk teeth. I take flight under pink spring sunris...

Photo by Bradley Allweil on Unsplash by Jenny Stalter Mom says love is the most powerful thing on earth, and that’s how she’ll quit drinking, which is called self-love, and that’s how she found me a n...

September 2, 2025 ISSUE SIX BACK TO TOP Sudha Balagopal FICTION Here and There ❦ I hear the double ring at the other end in India—different from the single ring here in the US. For the first minute…

I emerge from us as a lark from depression-nest. You punched a hole in the wall near my head, breath full and chewy as wine, dangerous words through drunk teeth. I take flight under pink spring sunris...

Blake existed beyond the black door in the attic. That door didn’t exist before midnight. TJ needed to pass through to the other side and rescue his husband, if Blake needed rescuing. It felt like Bla...

The doctors couldn’t determine what was causing the thumping fluttering agony in my chest, the dread that haunted me and kept me awake nights. X-rays, MRIs, CTs had no answers. Finally, I told them to...

“Daffodil,” you say to your ten-pound poodle, “are we crazy? If we get wet, will we actually melt?” You’re decked out in a weatherproof windbreaker and rain boots, an umbrella dangling from your wrist...

I threw the first punch this time. I’m venomous. I drink. I levitate. Yesterday it was the dishes. Today it’s the trash, all the wine bottles. Jovi’s always mad about something. I throw the bottles. W...

102 Flash Stories by 101 Authors

by Dawn Tasaka Steffler My mother calls to say she’s booked a flight to visit me and my two-month-old son. I wish she had consulted me first because he’s going through colic, and now&#8…